The increase in visitor numbers could be seen as the success of Singapore’s investments in the tourism, leisure and entertainment sector, marketing itself as a must-visit city destination offering a variety of unique experiences. In the last decade, Singapore completed several large-scale projects that helped place it on the tourism map, such as the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix, the world’s only night race; Gardens by the Bay, in which the world’s largest glass greenhouse is situated; and the world’s second-largest aquarium, the S.E.A Aquarium in Resorts World Sentosa. Since 2019, Singapore added another superlative attraction to that list - the world's tallest indoor waterfall, located in the newly opened entertainment complex Jewel Changi Airport.
However, the increase in visitor numbers did not translate to a corresponding increase in international visitor spending, which saw little growth from 2017 to 2018. Even so, Singapore still ranked fourth in international visitor spending worldwide in 2018. The largest spenders were visitors from China, who not only led in visitor numbers but also in contributions to the tourism receipts.
In 2019, however, one area of tourist spending reached a record high. Singapore not only saw record tourist numbers but also the highest transaction value in terms of hotel deals, reaching close to six billion U.S. dollars as at the end of November. By comparison, hotel transaction volumes were at 4.2 billion U.S. dollars as of November 2018, a year which saw an average occupancy rate of 86.2 percent, the highest in the previous ten years. The hotel industry thus highly benefited from the tourist influx and the rising number of visitors, more so than other sectors in the tourism industry.
